Modernized Pride And Prejudice
by kate876
Summary: My first fanfiction please read and review. This is pride and prejudice in modern times. The characters are the same but they are a little older and in college they also live in the United States instead of England.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfic. Please review. I know my grammar isn't the best and I forget words sometimes but this is so I can do something I enjoy but also improve my writing. Thanks and I hope you enjoy.

It was the end; the end of the life I had once known and the start of a life I was a little afraid of. I was trying to finish all my packing for college. I thought I was done two days ago, before I had said goodbye to my friends, before I decided to pack all the books I was sure I wouldn't need but had to take anyway. I was taping up my last box when Jane bounced into our room. My oldest sister has always been called the beauty of the family. She has long wavy blonde hair that doesn't get frizzy in the humidity and deep blue eyes. She was absolutely gorgeous and today was no exception. "Hey Lizzie, you finished yet?" She asked.

"Um, I think this is the last one. You nervous?"

"Of course I'm nervous! I took a year off to spend with family and friends so we would be freshmen in college together. So we could experience college together and so college would be easier on us but I'm still really nervous about leaving home for the first time. You?"

"Oh, I'm definitely nervous! I'm kind of ready for some quiet though. No Kitty and Lydia chatting, ha well arguing about guys and no Mary playing the piano all the time. I'm a little afraid it's going to be too quiet honestly." I said.

"Too quiet?" Jane asked. "Are you serious? College students away from their parents for a full school year? I think it's a good thing you can study with a bunch of noise because I'm pretty sure the dorms will be anything but quiet."

"Well, I guess we'll see in a couple of hours." I said grabbing my last box and heading down the stairs and out to my truck. Our parents bought us each new, or rather new to us, cars for a going away present. They thought it would make it easier to come home on weekends if we wanted. Before I got into my red Ford F150 and before Jane got into her white Honda Civic we said goodbye to our sisters and hugged our parents. Our mother was always the type of woman who would worry for no reason so I was prepared for all the questions. "Do you guys have everything you need? Your ids? Your cell phones? Your cell phone chargers? Keys? Laptop? Your..." Our dad cut her off before she could finish her list of questions.

"I'm sure they have everything they need my dear. It's time to let them go." He said to her. He turned towards us and said "Make sure you call us when you get settled in, we want to know you made it safely." We hugged our parents one last time and got into our vehicles. We started our two hour drive to The Ohio State University. As I pulled onto the highway I said to myself "Here we come OSU, I hope I'm ready for you!."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.

Chapter 2

Two hours later I pulled up to The Ohio State University campus with Jane following behind me. Campus was huge and I wasn't sure where I was going. I knew I was forgetting to do something yesterday but I couldn't figure out what, I knew then I had forgotten to look up how to get to Morril tower. There were two towers right next to each other here on campus, Lincoln and Morril. Our tower is full of dorms where as Lincoln tower is full of offices. I saw a parking lot and decided to pull over to talk to Jane about directions before we ended up on the wrong side of campus. I pulled into one of the many empty parking spaces knowing tomorrow it wouldn't be this easy to find a place to park. I got out of my truck and said "Hey, I'm not sure how to get to the resident hall from here, do you?"

"I'm not positive but I have a map of campus," she said while pulling the map out of her pocket. "It looks like the towers are pretty close to here. Mind if I take the lead the rest of the way?"

"It's fine with me." I said pulling open my truck door and getting inside. I started my truck and followed Jane towards the towers. Since the towers are right next to the horseshoe, the football stadium, we drove right past it. I was hoping our dorm would have a view of the stadium, I had always loved the architecture of it.

As we pulled up to the towers I started to get really excited. My excitement was short lived because a surly woman, whose name tag we couldn't read because something was spilled on it, had to check our belongings to make sure we didn't break any rules by trying to bring things we weren't allowed. Once our things were checked the woman smiled. Jane had insisted on being in charge of what we could and couldn't bring with us to school. She decided a month ago all the things we would need and the restrictions from the school were followed to a t. We didn't have one thing we weren't allowed. The surly woman, who told us her name was Beth said "Looks like we're good here ladies, it's time to move you in." As we took all of our things into our dorm we didn't speak a lot. Jane and I also didn't get to bask in the glory of walking into our dorm for the first time. Beth was pushing us to hurry up.

An hour later all of our things were sitting on the floor in the middle of our room and our cars were parked in the student parking lot right outside the building. I smiled a little thinking how grateful I was for mom making us buy the pink shag rug Jane was placing between the beds. "Is this alright? She asked.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm glad mom made us get it; at least it will give the room some color. I think we should ask mom to send us some curtains these one's are gross!" As I looked out the window I was excited to see the horseshoe, I could definitely get used to seeing that every day.

"Lizzie, I know it's different but it's not too bad. You're just used to home give it a couple hours and I'm sure you'll love it." She said concerned I wouldn't like college and dorm rooms. She was right it wasn't home but I knew I wasn't going to hate this place. It was just something I needed to get used to. We hadn't been gone for four hours and I was already homesick but I knew I would be fine in a couple days. I kept thinking about how life would be so different while I put all my things into their new homes.

The last thing I did was set up my laptop and for this I was grateful. When I switched my laptop on and signed onto the internet I found I had four emails. One was from my mom it read:

_Lizzie,_

_I hope your trip went well. I keep thinking you guys got into an accident since you haven't called or emailed me yet. I'm a nervous wreck. Please put me out of my misery and call or email as soon as you get this. I miss you and Jane terribly and you just left._

_Also I wanted to remind you of the conversation we had last week. There are many nice men in college so you better find one before you come home again._

_I love you and have fun!_

_Love, Mom_

"Jane, I have four emails already. How many do you have so far?" I asked will emailing my mother back.

"Hold on I haven't signed onto the internet yet." She answered. A few minutes later she shockingly said "I have ten emails and six of them are from mom."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I turned around to look at Jane. "Are you serious? You have six emails from mom?" I asked.

"Yeah I do, but they pretty much say the same thing: Call me when you get this, Miss you, make sure Lizzie finds the right guy; you know how she tends to like losers. Wow she even told me to pick out a guy for you." Jane said laughing.

"Ugh I can't believe she would do that!" I stated. "Actually I can but I just want to find a guy on my own without any interferences and I don't want you to find someone for me." By that time I was pretty angry. For some reason everyone was pressuring me to find a husband. I'm only eighteen, I don't want to get married yet I want to have a life.

"Lizzie, I'm not going to find a guy for you. Even though you haven't had the best of luck with men I know you will find the right one to be with. And one of these days you will fall head over heels in love and when that happens, you probably won't be thinking about wanting to live a life because he _will_ be your life. "

"You're probably right but I'm going to go look around. I'll be back in a few hours, text me if you need me." I said before I walked out the door. I needed to blow off some steam. I decided I didn't want to wait for the elevator so I took the stairs down to the main floor. I walked out the door and headed to the nearest Library.

Out of the fifty five libraries, ******William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library is the main library on Ohio State University campus. It is also the largest library on campus. It has approximately one million volumes inside its walls. Before I stepped in the door of the library I could tell it would be my favorite place on campus. It is about a twenty minute walk from the dorm but it is well worth it. **

******As I was walking the floors of the library in awe I heard a few girls squealing with excitement. I was trying hard not to listen to their conversation but for some reason I couldn't block them out. "I still can't believe Charles Bingley is going to school here" A girl with a long black ponytail asked. **

******"Do you know when he is going to arrive?" One of the other girls asked.**

******"I heard sometime before seven." The first girl said. Charles Bingley? Why was that name so familiar I asked myself. I couldn't figure out why. As I started to walk back to the dorm, it hit me. Mom had been talking about how he is single and how she hoped one of her daughters would marry him. With this realization I ran back to the dorm. **

When I opened up the dorm there were two people in our room, Jane and… I couldn't see the other person's face. I knew I had seen this person before or rather the back of this person's head before. Jane was the first one to speak. "Lizzie, guess who I just ran into." After Jane said this, the women turned around. I started laughing. How could I not know this person? She was my best friend after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Charlotte Lucas, I couldn't believe I was seeing her again before Thanksgiving. She is my oldest and dearest friend. She is not the prettiest girl I've ever seen but she wasn't ugly, her looks were more average than anything but I don't care she was almost like my sister.

When we were younger were inseparable when I was somewhere so was Charlotte and vice versa. "Charlotte, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I convinced my dad to let my come here. I was going to tell you a few months ago but I decided to surprise you instead. You have NO idea how hard it was to keep this from you!" Charlotte replied.

"I'm so happy to see you! It was really hard for me to say goodbye to you yesterday!"I exclaimed.

"Yeah I know it was but I'm here now and I'll be living right across the hall." She stated excitingly. I was so happy that I completely forgot why I ran here to begin with. I hugged Charlotte and laughed. "Eww gross get off me Liza you're all sweaty! What have you been doing swimming in sweat?"

"No actually I ran from the Library. I had to tell Jane something right away." I turned towards Jane. "Jane, when I was walking around the library I heard a group of girls talking about Charles Bingley. Do you remember him?" Jane nodded her head to indicate yes, I continued. "Well I guess he will be going to school here. Maybe you guys will meet and mom will get her wish granted. Oh Jane mom would be so happy, I mean that's of course if you would want to be with him." I walked over to my laptop and turned it on. "Maybe we should Google him. Do you guys want to?" I asked. They both nodded their heads yes and walked over to my desk.

Once I got to Google's website I typed in Charles Bingley. First we looked at his picture; he has medium length hair and styled fancy like. He's eyes are green and even in the picture they are mesmerizing. Then we looked at his profile online. He is twenty-two, very wealthy and has a sister, Caroline Bingley. From what we found he seems very nice and is really looking forward to starting college. "Wow he seems perfect!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Yeah does!" Jane stated

"Um, I don't know." I stated. They were all talking about Charles Bingley when there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it." I said as I got up. When I opened the door it was some random girl I didn't know.

"Hi my name's Lissa!" the girl stated. "My Friend Sam is having a welcome to OSU party. It's at 354 Peacock rd. Come anytime you want after 7, the part last all night."

"Oh. That's awesome! I'll talk to my sister and friend and see if we will go." I thanked and closed the door. I went and sat down on my bed. "You guys want to go?"

"Oh yeah! First college party! Can you say CRAZY?" Jane said.

"Of course we should go it's going to be SO much fun." Charlotte cried.

A few hours later the three girls had arrived at the party. They were dancing with a few guys they had met when they got there when all of a sudden the music was turned off and everyone was silent. "Charlotte pointed and whispered in my ear "Liza do you see who that is?" I followed where he finger was pointing and I saw him. "I can't believe he came here!" I stated in shock.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: I changed Darcy's first name a little bit so it would fit into the modern world a little bit more. Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 5

I couldn't help but stare, it was him! I started scanning the room for Jane. When I finally found her she was in the doorway coming from the kitchen. I walked to Jane, by this time the music was back on and everyone had started dancing again. "Ok Jane do not freak out but I have to tell you who just walked through the door." I said.

"Um, okay who?" she asked.

"Charles Bingley!" It looked liked it took her a minute to register what I had just said. Then she smiled, I had never seen her smile like that before. I can't even describe what it looked like. "Do you think we should go say hello to him?" I asked. Instantly Jane shock her head and started to look for him. While they were looking for him they ran into Charlotte. "Oh hey, we are looking for Charles do you know where he is?"

"I think I just saw him walk out to the balcony." She said and led the way. Once we got out to the balcony we noticed Charles Bingley had not come alone he was talking to a friend. "Oh my, it's William Darcy! He's family is quite rich!" Charlotte whispered in awe. William Darcy is by far the most handsome man I've ever seen. He has shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. His eyes are the kind of eyes where the moment he looks at you, you get sucked in and you can't and don't want to be let out.

Once they noticed they were no longer alone they dropped their conversation. Jane walked over to where the two men were standing and introduced herself "Hello, My name is Jane, this is Elizabeth," she said while motioning me over. "And this is her best friend Charlotte." At the same time Charlotte and I say Hello" Charles Bingley smiled at the delight of meeting three new women. "Hello, I'm Charles and this is William." William Darcy did not look like he wanted to be here he seemed very uncomfortable. William said "Hello" His hello wasn't friendly but wasn't unfriendly.

Almost immediately Jane and Charles started talking and it looked as though they were really connecting. I had to remember to email mom and let her know what happened tonight! "So William do you dance?" I asked. "Not if I can help it!" He said and looked away. "Oh." As soon as the conversation started it died. Of course I wanted to be friendly since I had just met the man but I had no idea what to say.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Hey sorry it has taken me so long to update. As a college student I haven't had much time to write and even when I did get the time I had writers block but Shakespeare has helped me. Sorry this chapter is so short, I haven't had much time to write but I really wanted to update. I hope you enjoy. Read and Review Please! :]**

Later that night I decided I would leave William alone and have some fun, that's what the party was for wasn't it? I was sitting talking to Charlotte when I overheard Charles and I William talking.

"So do you see any cute girls, you might want to get to know better?" asked Charles wiggling his eyebrows

"You have found the only cute girl here" he replied.

"What about her sister Elizabeth?"

"She's all right but not pretty enough to tempt me!" He said coldly and walked away.

As I heard this my face fell. He didn't even know me and he already decided I wasn't worthwhile. "Oh don't worry Liza" Charlotte said, "If he liked you then you would have to hang out with him." That made me smile; she was right I didn't want to hang out with an arrogant ass. Soon after that we decided to leave. We all had an early morning class.

I grabbed my alarm clock, ugh four in the morning. I should've been asleep; for some reason I was having trouble sleeping. I'm going to guess it's because I wasn't home in my own bed. I missed my family including Kitty and Lydia. It may also have to do with William Darcy judging me before he knew me. _Why do I care what he thinks? _I thought to myself.

Three hours later Jane woke up. "Good Morning Lizzie, how did you spell last night?"

"Sleep? I didn't sleep at all!" I replied.

"Oh… well that's not good! You better start getting ready you have a class at eight."

As I was getting ready I couldn't help but wonder what my classes would be like. I was totally and completely excited! Once I was ready I walked out the door while called goodbye to Jane, she always took forever to get ready in the morning. I was heading to English class; its intro to Shakespeare and it's in Denney Hall. Denney Hall is about a twenty-five minute walk from the dorm. It's a good thing I only take about a half hour to get ready in the mornings. It's a five story building and for some reason I absolutely love it.

When I finally reach the building I head up to the third floor. When I walked into the class I was surprised by a familiar face. _There is no way this is happening, _I thought to myself.


	7. Note to readers

I just thought I would let you guys know what's going on with the story.

Okay right now I have most of the next chapter written but I want to finish it before I put it on here. I'm trying to finish it quickly but I also want to make sure everything sounds alright and the words are okay because I went back and read everything on here and I caught A LOT of mistakes.

Also Thanks for the reviews but I would also like to ask people not to be so mean in the review. I don't mind people not liking the story, but when people tell me I'm mangling the English language or that I suck at writing it makes me want to stop writing all together. I'm not a very strong writer and part of the reason I'm writing this whole story is to try improving my writing skills so please if you don't like the story or you want to give some negative feedback do it but don't be too harsh. I really like criticism because I think it helps me improve but I don't like people being flat out mean. Once again thank you for the reviews and I hope to update with the next chapter soon.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Well it was happening. William Darcy was sitting in the front row of the classroom. There was an empty seat next to him but I didn't really want to sit there so I scanned the room for another seat, there wasn't one, which meant I had to sit next to him. I sat down beside him and smiled politely. "Hi," I said.

"Oh, Hello Lizzie," he replied. "Did you enjoy the party?"

"Um, not so much that's really not my scene," as soon as I said this, the professor walked in ending any hope of a conversation and leaving me to my thoughts. I couldn't help but wonder why he was being so much nicer today. What had changed since last night? I mean he was still cold but a little warmer towards me. Even though his attitude might have changed a little I still despised the man. For the rest of the hour we discussed what the class would be like for the next ten weeks and as soon as the professor finished his last sentence William stood up and raced out of the room. Bewildered I walked to where I promised to meet Jane and Charlotte.

Ten minutes later I was standing in the center of the oval waiting for them to show up. "Lizzie" I heard a voice call. I turned around and saw Jane and Charlotte walking towards me. "Hey guys." I said.

"Hey how was class?" Charlotte asked.

"Not bad we just went over the syllabus, but you won't believe who I had to sit next to."

"Who," they asked in unison.

"William Darcy! He was… nicer, I guess, but kind of weird also. Anyway we didn't really get a chance to talk last night after we left the party what did you guys think?" I replied.

Charlotte started first "I've been to parties before but nothing like that. All the parties at home were just dancing and there were never people getting drunk." Jane and I both agreed. Yes the party was a little fun but it just was not where we all wanted to spend all of our time; we probably would not go to very many college parties this year.

The next day I went back to my English class and William was not there. I went on with my weekly routine and every day I kept looking to see if William was there he never was. This went on for months I did not see William Darcy again until the end of November just in time for Thanksgiving.


	9. Chapter 8

It was two days before Thanksgiving when I next saw William Darcy. I was back in my hometown for the holiday with nothing to do so my sisters and I went to the mall to see a movie. We arrived at the mall at three o'clock but the movie did not start until four-thirty. We all decided to go window shopping to look for early Christmas presents, we were headed into a store called Mixx Myxx when a man bumped into me.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I hu…" The man started to say until he saw who I was. "Elizabeth, what are you doing here?"

"Hi William," I said surprised "I live here; this is where I am from. What are you doing here?"

"The Bingleys just bought a house here so Charles would not have to commute as far during the holidays. They were nice enough to invite me to stay with them whenever I'd like," he replied.

"That was kind of them but then again you are really good friends with Charles." I looked around and noticed that my sisters had left me to continue window shopping. William Darcy and I were left alone, I do not know why but this really embarrassed me! Although we were standing in the middle of the mall it did feel this way and it was a very strange feeling. It is not as though I have never been alone with a guy before but somehow this was different, I could not help but smile the whole time I was with him. It seemed as though I liked William Darcy, but this could not be possible! There is NO POSSIBLE way that I could like William Darcy, he is an arrogant jerk and that's not my type.

"So, Elizabeth would you like to walk around with me or get some coffee?"

"Umm…" I said hesitantly "sure coffee would be great."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fifteen minutes later we were sitting at a table in the coffee shop named Jitter Bug. William is such a gentleman he held the door open for me and paid for my coffee.

"How do you like Marietta so far?" I asked

"I have only been here a few hours but I like the atmosphere quite a bit. The small town feel is a lot different than Chicago. I really like it here; it is possible I might spend the rest of my holidays and the summer months here!" I smiled at this. I never thought someone like William Darcy would actually like my hometown. He grew up in wealthy fenced in neighborhood with people waiting on him hand and foot. In Marietta we are all middle class, sure there are a few poor people but the community helps them out when they need it.

We continued talking like this for the next hour. I do not know why but I glanced at my watch, it read 4:25. "Oh no," I got up hurriedly "I'm sorry but I have to go I am going to be late for the movie."

"That's fine but I'm walking you to the theater," he said.

"All right," I said smiling.

When we arrived at the theater we said our goodbyes. As I was walking away he grabbed my hand and kissed it. It was very sweet; I have never seen a guy do that before well except for in the movies. When I finally found my sisters in the theater I realized my hand was still tingling from where William Darcy's lips had once been. I do not remember much of the movie because I could not help but think about what had happened in the last two hours. Why was he being so nice to me? From the first time I met him he had a frozen expression of hatred on his face whenever I was around. I guess in time I will find out. About twenty minutes into the movie I realized that maybe just maybe it was possible that William Darcy had a heart that could possibly be beating in sync with mine!


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters.

Author's Note: Sorry guys for not updating this in a really long time! I'm not going to lie I completely forgot about it for awhile. It hasn't been at the top of my priorities but I am going to try updating more and eventually finishing my version of the story. This may take awhile so please bare with me.

Once the movie was finished we left the theaters and headed to JC Penny's. Lydia wanted to buy a new dress for the barn dance we'd be attending on Saturday. Barn dances are very popular in our town, almost everyone goes to them. Everyone dresses up and dances the night away, they are a lot of fun and I'm very excited to go since I've missed a few of them because of school.

While Lydia and Kitty were off looking at dresses Jane and I were talking about my encounter with William. "What happened when you ran into William Darcy?" She asked.

"First of he ran into me Jane," I couldn't decide if I wanted to tell her how I was feeling or keep it to myself until something happened. "And second nothing happened we just grabbed a quick coffee."

"So what did you talk about?"

"We talked about Marietta and how he likes it here so far, but can we talk about this later? Here come Kitty and Lydia.

Lydia found a dress she really likes; it was black with lace and sequence. She absolutely loves it but I'm not a big fan, I think it could use a little more material. Once Lydia purchased the dress we headed for home.

On our way home I tried to organize my thoughts. I decided to not say anything about the confusion William Darcy had caused in my head. It was just coffee and a small kiss on the head. It meant nothing and it was not a big deal at all. It's not like it changed anything. We arrived home a few minutes later and I went upstairs to read until dinner.

The next day mother was getting things ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving was always a big deal for my family; we all spent the day together talking and playing games. It was probably my favorite holiday. Mother was trying to make sure she had everything for dinner the next day when she realized she was missing a few things. "Lizzie, would you mind running to the store for a few things? I'll send you a text message with everything I need."

"She thing mom," I said while grabbing my keys and heading out the door.

It was a rather warm day for the end of November. It felt like the mid 60's and warm enough to wear my favorite jeans and the sweater Jane had gotten me for my birthday.

When I arrived at the grocery store I checked my phone, one new message the screen read. It was from my mother telling me all the items I was supposed to get. I headed into the store and to the isle where I knew I'd find the cranberry sauce. When I got there all the cranberry sauce was gone. _"Maybe there is some in the back" _I thought to myself. I started looking for a sales associate to help me. I was looking down one of the isles and I saw a man who looked really familiar, it was Charles Bingley. I decided I'd say hello. I walked up to the man and said "Hello Charles."

Startled he said "Oh, hello Elizabeth! What are you doing here?" As he said this he looked around me to see if anyone was with me.

"I'm grabbing a few things for my mother. She forgot to get a couple of things for dinner tomorrow night."

"How are you and your sister doing?"

"We are doing very well thanks for asking," I replied.

"That's good," he said "but I really need to go William and my sister are in the car wait for me. Please tell Jane I said hello."

"Will do and Charles there's a barn dance on Saturday at seven. It's on the Barnett Farm, it's right outside of town by the old mill."

Charles said "I'll talk to William about it and I'll let you know if we decide to come. My number is 863-555-4321; call me sometime on Friday so I can let you know."

"All right see you later Charles."

"Goodbye Elizabeth." I finished getting the things my mother needed and checked out. All the way home I wondered if William would be at the dance on Saturday. I don't know why but I was really excited to see him again.


	11. Chapter 10

Saturday morning, I thought to myself as I lay in bed. I wonder what this barn dance will be like and who all will be there. I decided to get up since my thoughts started drifting towards William. He wasn't something I wanted to think about since I still wasn't sure what the kiss on the hand meant and honestly I wasn't sure I wanted to find out.

My family and I had plans to spend time together since Jane and I would be leaving Monday for another two weeks of school before the holiday break. We both knew those two weeks would be beyond torture because of finals. I was lucky, my finals were on Monday and Tuesday which meant I could relax until Jane was done with her finals. Jane's last final was Friday morning.

Five o'clock rolled around much quicker than I thought it would which meant it was time to get ready for the barn dance. I had decided to wear my skinny jeans with a borrowed American Eagle plaid shirt from Charlotte and my favorite pair of Toms. I wore my hair straight and pulled into a low side pony tail; this is how I normally wear it since it's quick but cute at the same time. I hated taking hours to get ready to go somewhere, maybe this is why people call me a tomboy. It only took me fifteen minutes to get ready so I walked down stairs to study a little before it was time to leave. Less than five minutes into studying there was a knock at the front door. As I walked to the door I was wondering who it could be. I opened the door to a very familiar face. "Hey!" I said to Bernie Hayes. Bernie was my father's best friend, they grew up together and had always gotten into a ton of trouble when they were my age.

"Hey, Lizzie. Where's your dad?" he asked.

"I'm pretty sure he's in the man cave. You can go on down if you want," I chuckled. My mom let my dad turn the basement into his own personal hang out so he could get away from all of us women in the house. We weren't allowed in there but ever since the remodel he insisted we call the basement the man cave. It wasn't until Bernie walked in the door that I realized someone was with him.

"Oh, hi." I said surprised.

"Sorry for being rude," Bernie said. "This is my nephew James Collins."

"Yep, I'm Collins, that's what my friends call me," said James.

A little confused I said "Oh, that's cool." I always hated when guys would go by their last name and for some reason he kept looking at me like I was a piece of meat he was dying to have. Well I wasn't a piece of meat and I knew right away there was absolutely no way I was ever going to like this guy.

Ten minutes later all of us girls where packed into the van and headed to the Barnett Farm. When we got there we saw a lot of familiar cars and one that wasn't. When we walked into the barn we knew why one of the cars didn't look familiar; that's because we had never seen it before but we sure knew who it belonged to. Charles Bingley was absent mindlessly dancing with Chrissy Barnett, the oldest daughter in the Barnett family, to a loud country song. As soon as he saw us he stopped dancing and walked towards us. "Hey guys, thanks for telling me about the dance Lizzie."

"No problem," I replied. With all the preparations for Thanksgiving I forgot to tell Jane I had ran into Charles at the grocery store. I also forgot to mention I invited him and William to the dance tonight. I had planned on telling her about the invite earlier that day but had forgotten. Jane was shocked to see Charles but I could tell she was really excited about him being there and that she wouldn't have to dance with anyone else since she couldn't get him out of her head since the night they meet. Before Jane and Charles ran off to the dance floor I had one question I really needed to ask," Did William come too?" I asked while scanning the barn for him.

"I don't think he's here yet. He has a final first thing Monday morning he needed to study for. He said he would stop by though." he said before pulling Jane towards the dancing crowd. I was glad my best friend wasn't around to see my disappointment. I don't know why I was so disappointed Charles did say he planned to stop by. I decided it was a good idea to grab a cup of punch then find Charlotte to help clear my head of William Darcy. I started walking towards the back of the barn where the refreshments table always was. When I got to the table I grabbed a cup of punch and quickly turned around and someone was standing so close I almost spilled red punch all over his crisp white button up. As I looked up I realized who was wearing the white shirt. It was William Darcy.


End file.
